Socialism with Chinese characteristics and global superpower aspirant

https://dailyasianage.com/news/147654/socialism-with-chinese-characteristics-and-globalsuperpower-aspirant

EDEN BUILDING TO STOCK EXCHANGE 04 November 2018

Socialism with Chinese characteristics and global superpower aspirant

M S Siddiqui Chinese people are happy with success of recent 19th Congress of Communist Party of China. The delegates went back home with happy mood and the President Xi is more happy with more grip on Party and state power.

There are two widely discuss issues are socialistic pattern of economy and government and promise to become a "prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful" country over the next decades and establishment as a global leader, on par with the United States and other advanced countries - by 2049.

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: In Marxist theory, history progresses through a number of stages from slave society to feudal society to capitalist society to socialist society to communist society.

According to Technological Determinism & Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: "new economic development strategy based upon decentralization of control over the state owned enterprise sector, expanded market transactions to replace command and control allocation, dismantling of the rural commune system (completed in 1985), increased use of material incentives in workplaces, and ultimately, upon the modernization of the Chinese economic infrastructure (as well as the military infrastructure). This last aspect of their strategy represents more than a mere objective.

Modernization represents the mission of the pragmatists.

In current Chinese Communist thinking, the PRC is in the primary stage of socialism, and this redefinition allows the PRC to undertake economic policies that attract the foreign capital necessary to develop into an industrialized nation.

The state ownership is declining in China but Stare owned Enterprises still play an important role in social engineering and research and development, but their business models are under pressure from globalization and disruptive technologies. That is why Xi has included in his plan measures to support the continued opening of markets, including the use of competition law to enable markets to dictate prices, improve resource allocation, and boost productivity.

State of economy and target: Over the past five years, China's GDP rose from 54 trillion to 80 trillion yuan (US$8.2 trillion to US$12.1 trillion), contributing more than 30 percent of global economic growth. More than 60 million people have been lifted out of poverty. China launched over 1,500 reform measures, establishing general frameworks for reform in major fields. The country is also building world-class armed forces.

In a world comprising a diverse array of countries, each with its own complex, dynamic, and evolving system, there can be no one-size-fits-all development path. The Thought builds on and further enriches Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development. It represents the latest achievement in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context.

President Xi Jinping unveiled his "two-stage development plan" to turn China into a "modern socialist state" by 2035.In the first stage from 2020 to 2035, the CPC will build on the foundation created by the moderately prosperous society with a further 15 years of hard work to see that socialist modernization is basically realized, according to the plan.

According to Xi's report, China will see that socialist modernization is basically realized from 2020 to 2035. From 2035 to the mid-21st century, China will be developed into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful.

Now the needs to be met for the people to live a better life are increasingly broad. Not only have their material and cultural needs grown, their demands for democracy, rule of law, fairness and justice, security, and a better environment are increasing, Xi said.

By then, China will become a global leader in terms of composite national strength and international influence. Common prosperity for everyone will be basically achieved, Xi told more than 2,300 delegates attending the country's most important political meeting in five years.

The principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved to be that between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life.

The average income in Guizhou was 15,121 yuan last year, less than a third that in Shanghai. The gap in personal wealth between the haves and the have-nots is of no less concern. The country's three richest men -- two Internet gurus and one property magnate -- are each worth more than 30 billion dollars according to the latest Hurun rankings. Meanwhile, millions of people struggle to get by on less than a dollar a day.

The Communist Party has created billionaires and a strong middle class, and yet there are still a lot of poor people. The plan targets the more than 43 million people who still live on the equivalent of less than 95 cents a day, the poverty line set by the Chinese government.

Five years ago, about 100 million people lived below that line, according to official statistics.

Although, WB said nearly 500 million people, or about 40 percent of China's population, live on less than $5.50 per day. That seems to be a massive contradiction. China still believe to build socialism with Chinese characteristics.

China faces the reality that the world's newest superpower remains a developing nation with a huge poverty problem. Some experts say that a slowing economy and loss of manufacturing jobs could add to strains on low-income families in future.

Xi has established a strategy for transforming China into a "prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful" country over the next decades, including by increasing per capita income to more than $12,000 per year, the World Bank threshold for a highincome economy.

Xi's report also sets out a longer-term strategy for realizing Xi's much-touted "China Dream" - that is, the country's "rejuvenation" and establishment as a global leader, on par with the United States and other advanced countries - by 2049.

By the middle of the 21st century, the following goals will have been met: (a) New heights are reached in every dimension of material, political, cultural and ethical, social, and ecological advancement, (b) Modernization of China's system and capacity for governance is achieved, (c) China has become a global leader in terms of composite national strength and international influence, (d) Common prosperity for everyone is basically achieved, (e) The Chinese people enjoy happier, safer, and healthier lives.

The Chinese economy has shifted from the stage of high-speed growth to high-quality growth. To achieve the modernisation of the economic system, Xi proposed the following six strategies: (1) Deepening the supply-side structural reforms, with an emphasis on the manufacturing sector and industrial upgrades; (2) Accelerating innovation with further government support for R&D; (3) Implementing a rural revival strategy by pushing forward land reforms and developing new agricultural business models based on economies of scale; (4) Implementing an inter-regional coordinated development strategy; (5) Accelerating the building of a socialist market economy, with an emphasis on institutional reforms of property rights and allowing market forces to play a greater role in allocating factors of production; (6) Pushing forward a new open economy framework by significantly increasing market access for foreign investors and encouraging outward investment through the "Belt and Road" initiative.

In the second stage from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century, the CPC will, building on having basically achieved modernization, work hard for a further 15 years and develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful, according to the plan.

Eliminating extreme poverty in China is part of Mr Xi's central agenda to build a "xiaokang", or moderately prosperous society by 2020, ensuring that there are no abject poor in China by the time China celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 2021, is "the baseline task" of this project.

Government programmes to improve their lot range from industrial development and job creation, to social security payments and relocation assistance for those staying in areas with few natural resources.

But local governments have also been tasked to help these villages find alternate income sources, such as by developing agri-tourism and homestays, cultivating specialty products that each region is known for, and tapping e-commerce to raise awareness and sales volumes.Small landholding farmers have also been encouraged to join cooperatives that better realise economies of scale, and in exchange for guaranteed yearly payments of their products.

By this time, Chinese rural incomes have also grown faster than that of urban residents' in recent years, with the income of farmers in poverty-stricken areas growing the fastest, at over 10 per cent a year.Mr. Xi has also used the fight against poverty to strengthen China's global alliances, financing programs in Africa and Southeast Asia, and urging the world to learn from China's experience.

But China is still and will long remain in the primary stage of socialism. Its international status as the world's largest developing country has not changed, Xi said. The observers believe, China under the leadership of Xi can achieve their dreams to be economical and political global leader with second stage of economic development by 2049.

The writer is a legal economist. Email: mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com